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Jayden Foster pitched seven innings of five-hit ball, aided by a sparkling defensive play from right fielder Elijah Hinojosa, to help stake the Douglas Tigers to an early lead in game two of their Northern 4A baseball double header on Saturday.

Damonte Ranch came back to force extra innings, however, and went on to win in the eighth, 5-2, on a hot and sunny day at Tiger Field.

Coupled with its 14-1 win in game one, Damonte Ranch (12-4 conference, 18-8 overall) remained in the thick of a five-team scramble for second-place in the playoff race.

Meanwhile, Douglas (5-11, 7-14) retained its hold on ninth-place coming into an important 4 p.m. contest today against Wooster at Greater Nevada Field in Reno.

The Tigers rebounded after being held to one hit in the opener and went up 1-0 in the second inning when Blake Murray drew a leadoff walk, advanced on Ayden Murphy's sacrifice bunt and came home when Hinojosa singled to right field.

Hinojosa provided another spark in the fourth inning with his glove. Damonte Ranch cleanup hitter Jerry Thomas drew a leadoff walk, then Esteban Lopez hit a long drive to the opposite field that Hinojosa ran down and caught near the warning track. Thomas broke at the crack of the bat and was approaching third base before he realized the ball had been caught, which allowed Hinojosa plenty of time to return the ball to shortstop Chris Thacker, who doubled the runner off first base with a throw back to Matthew Goff.

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How good was Hinojosa's catch? In a gesture of sportsmanship, Lopez tipped his cap to the Tigers' junior on his way back to the dugout.

Damonte Ranch scored twice in the sixth inning for a 2-1 lead, however, the Tigers answered in the bottom half of the inning when Foster hit a two-out double to left field and scored when Murphy lined a single to center.

The Mustangs won it with three runs on five hits in the eighth. Zack Jensen lined a leadoff triple to center and scored on Thomas' infield ground out. Lopez followed with a single, Mike Nicholas doubled to left, Jacob Bercovich hit an RBI single up the middle and Hunter Dunithan added a sacrifice fly to make it 5-2.

Tyler Hopper pitched four-hit ball over seven innings to win and Everett Williams came on to retire the side in order in the eighth to earn credit for a save. Hopper leads the conference with his 0.98 earned run average.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Carson Smith hit a long inside-the-park home run in the fifth inning for Damonte Ranch in its 11-0 win in game one on Saturday. Damonte Ranch won the second game, 11-3.

Austin Grant hit an RBI triple for the Tigers in game two, Wyatt Grisell hit a double, Mason Silva drove in one run and Adam Garren had two singles. Luke Ackermann, Aidan Budden and Calvin Doerr accounted for the Tigers' three hits in the opener.

In game one, Ty Polson led off the fifth with a double for the Mustangs and Smith followed with a shot to straightaway center field that hit near second base on the JV softball field and eventually hit the backstop. Smith pitched 4.1 innings of two-hit ball to pick up the win.